By Segun Adebayo
Veteran actress Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde says her five-year stint in Hollywood delivered continuous financial rewards that three decades in Nollywood never provided.
Speaking on the sharp contrast between Nigerian and American entertainment pay structures, she revealed that Hollywood regularly sends her residual and royalty payments, while 30 years of work in Nollywood yielded zero post-production checks.
According to Omotola, she constantly receives envelopes containing residuals and royalties from her Hollywood projects despite having spent only a few years working in the industry.
“I’ve only worked for five years in Hollywood, yet I constantly receive envelopes containing my residuals and royalties,” she said.
The actress contrasted this with her three decades in Nollywood, where she said she has never received similar payments for her work.
“I’ve put in 30 years in Nollywood and I’ve never received a single envelope,” Omotola said.
She expressed her surprise at the disparity, particularly because of the length of time she has spent contributing to the Nigerian film industry.
Omotola has been one of the prominent faces of Nollywood, featuring in numerous films throughout her career and becoming one of the industry’s most recognised actresses.
She had previously spoken about the absence of a structured residual payment system in Nollywood, saying she had worked on more than 310 projects without receiving residuals.
In contrast, she revealed that she receives monthly residual payments from two test projects she worked on during her Hollywood experience.
The actress had also shared payment documents from SAG-AFTRA, the American actors’ union, to show the residual payments she receives from her Hollywood work.
PerSecondNews reports that residuals are payments made to actors when their work continues to generate revenue through subsequent uses, including reruns, streaming and other forms of distribution.